Warning to public in hunt for man wanted over two rapes

Police have named a man wanted in connection with two serious sexual attacks that took place nine years apart. They have urged the public not to approach David Newton, 55, from Knottingley, West Yorkshire, who they think may now be in Cornwall.

Detectives in West Yorkshire want to speak to him about two attacks. In the first, 11 years ago, a 16-year-old girl was raped on parkland in Halton, Leeds. The girl and her 11-year-old brother were looking for frogspawn when she was attacked at knifepoint and he was forced to lie down in bushes nearby.

The rape was linked by DNA evidence to an attack on a 52-year-old dog walker on Ilkley moor, West Yorkshire, two years ago. The victim was knocked down and punched in the face until she lost consciousness. She came round to find she was being strangled and passed out again.

The woman told the BBC's Crimewatch programme: "I can't understand their motive or why they would just want to inflict pain on another person ... and not just the physical pain, but the mental torture now. I can't understand how he's going about his life now. What does someone like that do after they've attacked you?"

Detective Superintendent Chris Thompson said Newton may have realised that a major investigation was under way to find him. "He may well be aware that we are looking for him," he said. "I am urgently appealing to the public to contact us with any information about his whereabouts."

Newton was spotted on the M5 on Friday heading towards Cornwall, and he is thought to have links to the St Ives and Helston areas. He is believed to be in a metallic blue Land Rover Freelander, registration NA51 VYM.

Thompson said Newton is 5ft 6ins, of medium build with a beer belly, a ruddy complexion, a round face, no top teeth and a mole on the left side of his face near his sideburn. Information to West Yorkshire police on 0845 6060606 or 999.